- Urges LHC to hear party’s plea contesting commission’s Nov 23 order
- Reveals a heinous conspiracy afoot to technically knockout Khan, PTI of politics
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) spokesperson expressed serious reservations over the Election Commission of Pakistan’s (ECP) unnecessary dillydallying tactics to allot PTI its elections symbol “Bat” despite submitting all the required documents to the commission after holding successful intra-party polls, demanding the electoral watchdog to issue the party polls symbol sans any further delay.
PTI spokesperson appealed that keeping in view the sensitivity of the issue, Lahore High Court (LHC) should hear the petition of Barrister Ali Zafar challenging the ECP’s order of November 23, 2023 at the earliest so as to avert the tragic death of democracy after the casualty of the constitution at the hands of the electoral body.
He lamented that said that PTI was on the target of the worst state repression and ongoing shameful political engineering before the elections, adding that all the evidences and signs were enough to expose the state’s ambitions to commit historical electoral fraud in the next polls.
He went on to say that the country’s most popular political party having support of over three-fourths of the eligible voting population was being subjected to a heinous conspiracy like technical knockout.
PTI spokesperson said that all unconstitutional, illegal and undemocratic tactics were repeatedly being used to sideline PTI Chairman-for-life Imran Khan, who had been unjustly imprisoned in Adiala Jail, and his party from the political arena.
He pointed out that there was unconstitutional, illegal, unrepresentative and undemocratic governments in the country, whose sole criminal mission was to deprive Imran Khan of the public mandate, adding that they were even devoid of the basic constitutional requirement of elections.
PTI spokesperson said in the wake of May 9 incidents, all brutal tactics ranging from breaking up PTI, detaining thousands of innocent workers including the founding chairman and the blind and unlawful use of state power were being utilized; however, the stubborn and diehard supporters of Khan and PTI were a big challenge for the evil planners of the state.
He said that the electoral watchdog had been entrusted with the central role in the nefarious plan to pull PTI out of elections and politics.
PTI spokesperson highlighted that the Chief Election Commissioner and the members appointed in the commission were exercising all options to erase PTI from the political page such as through their very controversial, biased decisions, unconstitutional and illegal decrees and shameful discriminatory treatment.
He made it clear that in utter desperation and frustration, the non-democratic and apolitical circles, who had been hell-bent to oust PTI from politics, tasked the ECP with the specific target to technically knock out Khan’s party.
PTI spokesperson said that under this nefarious design, the process was started to deprive PTI of its basic right of the electoral symbol of “bat” aimed at depriving majority party’s voters of their political identity.
He pointed out that in order to forcefully deprive PTI of the electoral symbol, the ECP declared PTI’s intra-party elections held the party constitution one and half year ago void without any legal justification and issued order to hold re-elections within 20 days.
PTI spokesperson said that despite all reservations, PTI, in compliance with the commission’s illegal order of November 23, conducted elections in a transparent manner under the party constitution before challenging the commission’s order in LHC.
However, he noted that it was unprecedented in the country’s history that Imran Khan, the founding chairman of the country’s largest and truly democratic party, who was appointed as the chairman-for-life of the PTI, voluntarily stepped down from the position for the sake of democracy and the rule of law.
PTI spokesperson stated that instead of handing over the chairmanship of the party to someone from his family, Imran Khan nominated a capable and loyal party worker as a candidate for the post of chairman in the intra-party elections.
He pointed out that PTI workers expressed their unwavering faith in the decision of the founding chairman by electing Barrister Gohar Khan unopposed as PTI Chairman in the transparent intra-party elections conducted under the supervision of the Independent Election Commission of the party.
PTI spokesperson reminded that PTI submitted all the necessary documents including the results to the ECP as per the law after the successful completion of intra-party elections on December 2.
However, he expressed his shock that even after submitting the results of the party’s poll by the Chairman PTI, the Commission’s failure to issue the party poll symbol just 60 days before the elections was a matter of grave concern and it was not less than the worst attempt of pre-poll rigging.
PTI spokesman emphasized that neither the commission had any legal right and justification to uphold the bat symbol anymore nor there was any such precedent in history.
He contended that the nefarious attempt to grab the symbol of the bat by force was a shameful attempt to take away the constitution, democracy, transparent elections and political identity from millions of Pakistanis, adding that polls without “bat” would lose their credibility and effectiveness, which would actually lead to the death of democracy and open the door to chaos and tension.
PTI spokesperson urged that ECP should shun the practice of violating the sanctity of the vote on will and intent of the behind-the-scenes characters and immediately issue a bat to PTI.
